Episode 37
I’ve recently had a request from a listener who is starting their own bookkeeping business and wanted some tips on how to build up a clientele. Even if you are a business owner and not a bookkeeper, I think you can learn something from this episode as well, and I promise that the next episode will be more geared to you, the business owners, since this podcast has a dual audience. This episode, as well as all others, are also up on the YouTube channel at YouTube.com/@bookeepermensch and see if you notice a ‘graphic’ theme there attached to all the episodes. And please comment on YouTube or email me at Bookkeepermensch@gmail at any time about this episode or any of the others. Also, when you text message me here or email or comment on YouTube, please just let me know if you are a business owner or a bookkeeper. Inquiring minds would like to know (that is –MY MIND)!
So, finally, Welcome to episode 37 -- I’m Paul Rosenblum.
When I started my company in 1995, AOL was the main portal onto the internet, although there were other internet portals like Earthlink and a very young company called NetZero as well as the cable companies providing internet service through your or their modems. There was no Facebook, LinkedIn, or social media at all. We had beepers and used cell phones sparingly, since the batteries only lasted 2 hours before it needed recharging. So, it was a different world.
As talked about in episode 12 (my back story), I discovered light bookkeeping in 1993, got a full-time bookkeeping job in 1994 and decided to go freelance as a bookkeeper in 1995 when I started my own company. The idea was for me to work for several different companies as a freelance bookkeeper, which I did that for several months, through a small bookkeeping placement agency-- until I stumbled into teaching. My first tutoring assignment was QuickBooks, which I crammed before the client came into the school who hired me to do the training, since I had never seen QuickBooks before. Surprisingly, it went very well. The school immediately hired me to teach not only QuickBooks classes, but many other courses, including Microsoft products, and I studied up on all the training manuals, and had almost a full-time job teaching for about a year and a half before thinking about getting back to freelance bookkeeping. (although I did have one or two small clients) However I ended up teaching for several years and really didn’t pursue building a bookkeeping practice until around 2004. At that point, since so many of my students were business owners, they would ask me for a business card at the end of the class on QuickBooks and asked me if I was accepting clients. So, teaching, even though I never thought of it in this way, was really advertising for me. It helped me build my bookkeeping practice. I repeat this story because one of the clients that I started with after they attended a class with me had me send the books to their accountant at the end of the first year. The accountant called back 10 minutes later and wanted to speak to me. He told me that he and I were ‘going to be friends a long time’ because he liked my work. And he wasn’t kidding—we are still friends today and associates today. Within a month, he referred 6 or 7 clients to me who needed a bookkeeper, and the practice started to flourish from there. I figured out very quickly that I had to forge a relationship with every accountant who my clients engaged to do their tax filings because they might have clients who need bookkeepers.
If you are a bookkeeper just starting out, at least two or three ways of getting your name out there.
- Set up a ‘meetup’ for business owners who need to learn something about bookkeeping. And have an online meeting or an in-person meeting just to talk about what kind of bookkeeper they need. Maybe take questions that they might have and start building a relationship with them. Maybe 2 meetings a month for up to 2 hours could be a good way of advertising for you. Bring lots of business cards with you. And if you are a business owner, it’s a great way to meet other business owners, and maybe your next bookkeeper!
- Once you start with one client, insist on a short conference call with their tax preparer so that you can start building a relationship with that accountant or CPA firm. There is such a shortage of bookkeepers in most of the country, that especially during tax season, the referrals can be very steady.
When I first started out, I remember going out on a Saturday night to see a Broadway show, and it got out at 10:30 at night, and on my way home, my cell phone rang and it was a client. I answered to see what they needed. Their computer wasn’t acting right and were nervous about losing accounting data. I was able to fix the problem on the phone on the #7 train on a Saturday night. That cements relationships with your client. Word gets around if you work more than a 9-5 Monday through Friday schedule.
I also went to NYC Computer Club meetings once per month because at the end, anyone can announce anything. I made an announcement that I was a bookkeeper and looking for clients and had business cards with me.
- Let clients know that you don’t work on a weekday 9-5 schedule. Let them know you are available for them. (You can always change that as the practice becomes busier and busier) This is how to build a business.
- Go to other people’s Meetup meetings, networking meetings of any kind or meetings about what you personally are interested in and let people know you are looking for clients and hand out business cards.
These days, most bookkeepers (at least in NYC), decide what kind of clients they want to take on. Large businesses or small businesses, service-based companies or product or inventory-based companies. I decided pretty quickly based on what people said about what they liked about my classes in QuickBooks desktop, that smaller service-based companies are where my knowledge and personality can shine. So, I concentrated on that. I do have one or two larger companies, but to this day, I don’t enjoy the bookkeeping nearly as much as I do the smaller companies. So, I shaped my practice to my own personality.
Be honest with who YOU are. Take a long hard look at your personality and use that to shape your business. What is your attention span in general? If you had to work for one company for 6 or 7 hours a day, are you ok with that? For me, it almost turns my stomach. Personally, I need variety in my work.
So, #5 is –
Decide what kind of clients do you want to take on. Inventory based, or service based. Selling on the internet or selling in person. Domestic or international sales?
And #6. –
Do some therapy on yourself. Understand what your personality is and what your needs are.
We’ve spoken about this before but decide the best you can on a method of operation. How are you going to put books together? How are you going to communicate with your clients? What is your overall process going to be? And, how much do you want or need your client to be part of that process? Once you know this, when you speak to a perspective client, you will be able to more easily explain what you do, and how you do it. And of course, come up with your price structure. Look at websites to see what others in your area charge for bookkeeping. Or call, and pretend that you might be a customer, and that you wanted a price list from them. I’d start out on the low side, and then as you get more confidence, and you add more clients, then raise your price slowly.
Like any business, one has to nurture it over time. Eventually, it’ll be a turnkey operation, and you won’t have to worry about getting referrals or having a steady influx of calls from people, especially during tax season, looking for a bookkeeper. It’s the first 1 or 2 or 3 clients are the hardest, and then it gets easier and easier. I used to hand out business cards to people on the subway every day telling them what I do, and starting a conversation with them when the train was stopped in the middle of a tunnel. And I’m usually shy and an introvert. (I know, TMI, but I’ll say it anyway)
If you are just starting out, and you want to be bold, email me and maybe I can interview you on this podcast about your business and since the podcast is being listened to in 47 out of our 50 states the last time I looked, there might be someone looking for a local bookkeeper. Let’s talk! (or, maybe we want to work together, and I will pay you as a subcontractor).
And last but not least, come up with an interesting name for your company. A name that will be an attention grabber in any way. I’ll tell you one of them, a subcontractor in a building company client of mine … I love this name … “Got N.E. Business”. I thought that was a smart name and it does stand out. ‘Ultimately Balanced’ is another one that a bookkeeper associate of mine is using. Love that one too!
My company name is a technical mathematical term. I originally looked up in a thesaurus for a synonym for ‘numbers’ and this is one that came up. ‘Numerex’. I made my company the name Numerex Services, since there was already a Corp with the name of Numerex. To this day, I get inquiries on what does the name Numerex means, and once in a while a new client tells me that my company name is interesting, since it’s a mathematical term, and fits in with bookkeeping. So, the name of the company is as important as the personality behind it, the processes used, and the overall pricing.
You might also, just starting out, decide on what software you want to learn. When I started, it was QuickBooks, Peachtree and One Write Plus. Just those three. But now, there are many more. It might be difficult to learn 4 or 5 different accounting software and the intricacies of each. I have specialized in QuickBooks desktop from the very beginning and then QuickBooks online. By the time Xero and FreshBooks and Zoho came out, I was so busy, that there weren’t enough hours in the day to learn all of them. Only one potential client wanted to use Xero over the years, and they went with someone else. But if I were just starting out today, I’d learn as many pieces of software as possible, just to be safe.
One of the most important things is --- that you take a bookkeeping class either before you start your practice or soon after. This way, you can get the knowledge needed and put names on specific things, even if you were/are a self-taught bookkeeper. Then if a perspective client asks if you have an accounting degree, at least you can say that you have a bookkeeping certificate, like I did. I also took an accounting course before I took the bookkeeping course to give me the fundamentals of GAAP.
And this opens up a subject that is near and dear to me. “Why do they teach accounting theory, and bookkeeping theory, as well as business management, but to my knowledge they don’t teach actually how to run a small business, how to read a profit and loss and so much of the information that I’ve put together in all of these episodes of this podcast? None of this to my knowledge, is being taught in public schools.
This will be an upcoming episode, but if you are a teacher, or a school administrator, I would love to hear from you! Already, several of these episodes are being used as lessons by a teacher, as his email to me explains. But I digress, as usual from our episode to bookkeepers in their own business. So, I won’t rant anymore – I’ll save it for the full episode on this subject, for sure!
I’m sure I didn’t cover everything here, and there could be a part 2 at one point, if/when I think of other things to share. Or email me if you have any comments and suggestions about what I did not include here.
And remember to check out the newsletter at Substack (Link below).
Next episode, I will focus on all you business owners not in your own bookkeeping business. We will talk about how to find a bookkeeper, accountant, CPA or any tax preparer. We will also talk about how much, as a small business owner, you should be part of the process so that your books are accurate and a help to you in running your specific business.
Looking for more email from you – questions and comments both -- I’m welcoming July as I write and record this – I’ll be able to get my two feet firmly on the ground for the first time this year (hopefully at the swimming pool or the beach) --- Happy July 4th -- I’m Paul Rosenblum
